Public Television Service (PTS) chairman Cheng Tung-liao (鄭同僚) yesterday appealed to the Control Yuan to investigate the Government Information Office (GIO) for allegedly interfering with the television service.
Control Yuan member Yeh Yao-peng (葉耀鵬) accepted the appeal on behalf of the institution.
On Dec. 10 last year, the government watchdog censured the office after then-GIO minister Su Jun-pin (蘇俊賓) appointed eight members to the PTS’ board and confirmed their appointments without informing the Democratic Progressive Party of its right to recommend three new members.
The appeal accuses the office of ignoring the Control Yuan’s censure. The appeal also says that over the past eight months, the office has taken action six times against seven members of the PTS board, including asking for an injunction to suspend their positions and asking courts to annul decisions made by the board, in a bid to paralyze the television service.
Cheng said he hopes the Control Yuan will look into how the GIO raised the funds for the lawsuits and hold GIO officials responsible for “squandering public funds.”
At a separate setting yesterday, the National Communications Commission (NCC) said it would not intervene in the PTS’ personnel dispute and can only review the change of board directors.
“The Public Television Service is under the supervision of the GIO. The commission can only ascertain whether the board meeting determining the appointment of board directors is held legally and if the newly-appointed board members fulfill the qualification requirements stated in the Broadcasting and Television Act (廣播電視法),” NCC spokesperson Chen Jeng-chang (陳正倉) said. “We do not have right to intervene in the PTS’ management change and the dispute between the GIO and the PTS.”
Chen added the commission does not want the dispute between GIO and PTS to affect the interests of the viewers.
The commission yesterday approved the appointment of Lin Chih-hsing (林志興) as the new board director of the PTS.
Despite the NCC’s approval, Lin and Cheng, as well as five other board directors, can neither attend board meetings nor ask others to exercise their rights on their behalf, because of a provisional disposition leveled against them by the GIO on the grounds that they had illegally convened board meetings and made rulings on important cases.
US climber Alex Honnold is to attempt to scale Taipei 101 without a rope and harness in a live Netflix special on Jan. 24, the streaming platform announced on Wednesday. Accounting for the time difference, the two-hour broadcast of Honnold’s climb, called Skyscraper Live, is to air on Jan. 23 in the US, Netflix said in a statement. Honnold, 40, was the first person ever to free solo climb the 900m El Capitan rock formation in Yosemite National Park — a feat that was recorded and later made into the 2018 documentary film Free Solo. Netflix previewed Skyscraper Live in October, after videos
Starting on Jan. 1, YouBike riders must have insurance to use the service, and a six-month trial of NT$5 coupons under certain conditions would be implemented to balance bike shortages, a joint statement from transportation departments across Taipei, New Taipei City and Taoyuan announced yesterday. The rental bike system operator said that coupons would be offered to riders to rent bikes from full stations, for riders who take out an electric-assisted bike from a full station, and for riders who return a bike to an empty station. All riders with YouBike accounts are automatically eligible for the program, and each membership account
NUMBERS IMBALANCE: More than 4 million Taiwanese have visited China this year, while only about half a million Chinese have visited here Beijing has yet to respond to Taiwan’s requests for negotiation over matters related to the recovery of cross-strait tourism, the Tourism Administration said yesterday. Taiwan’s tourism authority issued the statement after Chinese-language daily the China Times reported yesterday that the government’s policy of banning group tours to China does not stop Taiwanese from visiting the country. As of October, more than 4.2 million had traveled to China this year, exceeding last year. Beijing estimated the number of Taiwanese tourists in China could reach 4.5 million this year. By contrast, only 500,000 Chinese tourists are expected in Taiwan, the report said. The report
Temperatures are forecast to drop steadily as a continental cold air mass moves across Taiwan, with some areas also likely to see heavy rainfall, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. From today through early tomorrow, a cold air mass would keep temperatures low across central and northern Taiwan, and the eastern half of Taiwan proper, with isolated brief showers forecast along Keelung’s north coast, Taipei and New Taipei City’s mountainous areas and eastern Taiwan, it said. Lows of 11°C to 15°C are forecast in central and northern Taiwan, Yilan County, and the outlying Kinmen and Lienchiang (Matsu) counties, and 14°C to 17°C
RSS